It was news Michael Leary was waiting to hear. Leary, who is chief executive officer for Rochester Primary Care Network, said his organization first applied for the aid in October 2012. The process required several steps and reworking application materials before word came more recently that it looked promising.

“We have been waiting ever since,” said Leary.

The funds will be used for opening and expanding the network’s dental health center at the Wayne Community Health Center in Lyons, he said. The center will be able to take more patients and that, in turn, will allow the network’s Rushville Health Center to take more dental patients, Leary said.

The network will be able to relieve staff from handling an overflow in Lyons, to serve more patients in Rushville, he said.

The network’s main center is Rushville, at 2 Rubin Drive, which serves about 75 percent of patients using network centers. Other sites are Livingston, Wayne and Utica, along with a community denistry program and service in the Rochester area.

Other organizations benefitting from the money include the Anthony L. Jordan Health Center, a not-for-profit primary care center that this year began operating Jordan at CCIA (Canandaigua Churches In Action). The medical clinic at 120 N. Main St. in Canandaigua provides patients who have Medicaid coverage or no insurance with a sliding fee scale to access the full array of family practice services.

In a press release, Cuomo said the funds are through the Vital Access/Safety Net Provider Program (VAP) to support projects over the next three years by the 37 facilities statewide “that were selected due to their serious financial condition and critical role in providing services to New York State’s fragile, elderly, and low-income population.”

The facilities were awarded the funding for 2013-14 for multi-year projects. The funds will be used primarily to improve community care through expanded facilities and services and to help the organizations meet financial goals.

“As the state continues its work to increase access to quality health care for New Yorkers, these grants will ensure that these 37 community organizations can continue to serve our most vulnerable populations,” Cuomo stated. “This new support will give elderly and low-income New Yorkers expanded and better health care service for years to come.”